Pneumatic tire



G. HOFMANN.

PNEUMATIC TIRE, APPLICATION FILED FEB. 13, 19H. 1,347,950. Patented July 27, 1920..`

UNITED STATES".-

PIATENT QFFICl-r.,

GEORGE HOFMANN, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AssIGNoR To IIOrIvIANN-MORGLAN e RUBBER. COMPANY, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORA'IIONv OF ILLINOIS.

PNEUMATIO TIRE.

Specification of Letters Patent. j... ,Patented JlyE ,27,

Application filed February 13,' 1917. Serial No. 148,310.

vTo all-'whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, GEORGE HOI'MANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county ofCook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Pneumatic Tires, of which the following is a specification. v

' My invention relatesimore particularly to pneumatic tires for trucks and other vehicles of a similar character, wherein it is-desired that the tires be of sufficient resiliency to relieve the vehicle `of undue shock in passing over rough-roads..

j `As a preface to a description of the invention it may be stated that While a certain amount of resiliency is necessary ina tire for'usel on a truck or-similiar vehicle,to properly cushion the vehicle, especially in traveling over rough roads, the same amountl of resiliency, as required-for passengercarrying vehicles, is not necessary, andthe efforts lof manufacturers of tires have kbeen directedto the production of vehicle the case with pneumatic tires as hitherto constructed, which shall possess wearing qualities to ahigh degree in proportion to the/amount of ymaterial forming the structure, and other objects, as will be manifest from the following description.

' Referring to the accompanying drawing, Figure l is a section taken through a tire constructed in accordance with my invention and a rim on which it is supported, the section lines of the tire being omitted to avoid confusion; and Fig. 2, a broken, perspective, view of a portion of the circumferential reinforcement forming a part of the tire illustratedv in'F ig. 1. v

The type of pneumatic tire in connection with which my inventionis illustrated is thatinvolving anv outer casing` which is channeled along its'inn'er periphery, andan infiatable inner tube. A rim, such as is commonly employed on the Wheels of trucks, is represented at 3, the outer casing ofiny improved tire, at lLand shown as'held between the annular flanges 5 of the rim,l andthe inner Inflatable tubev at 6. "l

Inaccordance-With my invention `the sidesv of the tire,`instead of being relatively. thin and flexible, adjacent the V-tire-l retaining flanges ofthe Wheel, as is common in pneumatic tires, are formed to be relatively nonresilient to present relatively non-yielding ringlikesections at opposite-sidesofithe tire structure and which sections, lforming thev sides of the outer casing, extendabo'ut the rim 3 in aplane substantially. parallel with the plane. of the vface vof lthe wheel.' The above -referred to relatively non -yielding portions Of the tire are Vrepresented,generally at 7, and areconstructed in A any suitable manner to produce` the saideffect.` 'In theA particulark construction. shown the tire is Vformed', as is usual with pneumatic tirecasings,of reinforcing-fabric and rubber vulcanized thereon, With ypreferably endless bands" orrings 8 of reinforcing material, such as ymetal cable, embedded in the portion of the casing adjacent'theinner periphery thereof.V A mass of 'reinforcingsfabric is represented at 9,this mass being formed into arc-shape, as illustrated, with the substantially .flat parallel sides -10 which are disposed substantially parallel Withthe plane of the face of the vvheel.V The mass 9 is formed of a `number of layers of thefabric referred to, theffabric being preferablyQlaid incourses, asrepresented in F ig. 1,7`to` form the rrelativelyheavy reinforced portion 8EL around the reinforcing cables 8, the-reinforcing material being of graduated thickness from the center ofthe tireradially out- Ward,'a`s represented in Fig. 1,-'up to substantially the point atywhichthemass 19 presentsthe arc-shaped portion Il. In other Words, the reinforcement in the sides 7 of the tire, and which reinforcement it V,will be understood extends preferably' continuously about the circumferenceV of the tire, is relatively`v heavy up Vto the point Vat Whichithe arch ll springs from the parallel 4portions 10 of the mass 9 Vof the reinforcement.'` In the formation of the tire the reinforcing material abovel described is' combined w'ith the body'12 of rubber-Which is preferably built uptobe relativelythick Vatthe 'side portions 7 of the tire, the rubber and reinforcing material being molded together in accordance with common practice.

. formed of any suitable material provided it yis capable of resisting stresses tending toV ex- In accordance with the preferred embodiment of my invention a band 13 of reinforcing material is preferably embedded in the rubber of the tire to extend circumferentially about the tire and around the reinforcing mass-9, as shown in Fig. 1, this band being preferably of such diameter that there will be very thin layer of the rubber of the tire: between the reinforcement9 and thev band 13, Vasillustrated, this band being preferably positioned substantially at the central portion of thetire as shown.v"'l`he band 13 may be constructed in any suitable wayV and pand 'itl circumferentially. In the particular construction illustrated the band 13 is shown as formedof a plurality of layers of fabric formed of along strip of fabric of the character usually' employed as reinforcement in Y of the strip, or more or less as is desired, and Y forming theY reinforcing Qband 13, being considerablywider than `the uppermost layers of this bandand so :woven or formed that the-lateral vedges of these two, lowermost layers-may beturned outwardly throughout the circumference -of thcband 13, as represented atlll, and thence :inwardly toward each other` from the opposite; sides of theband, to form aboutthe lcircumference ofthe ,band 13 the annular ring-portions 15 which are embedded inthe rubber of the tire, the latter being provided ingairelatively thick layer, asfsliown at 16 about' the periphery of the tire. :eA

z The inner" tube 6 of the tire, and which is inflatable, as Yin `the Vcase of' the usualV inner tubes of pneumatic-tires, is preferably of a cross-sectional form corresponding generally to the cross-sectional contour of the chamber or channel in the outer casing 11 forreceiving the inner tube, this channel extending, as will be understood Yfrom the foregoing description, continuously about the inner periphery ofthe outery casing 4:. In other words, the cross-sectional shape of the yinner tube :is such as topresent parallel sides. corf eo - respondingwith the sides 10, an arc-shaped side correspondingwith the shape ofthe portion 11 ofthe reinforcing material and a-iiatside corresponding with the circumference of the rimv3.k I

Thefprovision of the reinforcement .-9, as

Vthe arc-shaped portion 11 of theV reinforcement, the idea beingV to form thesides? so that they will be comparatively rigid. These sides, virtually present relatively rigid ringportions Vwhich are spaced` apart'- upon' the rim 3 'of the wheel, and extendsubstantially parallel with each other and parallel with the face of the wheel and thus practically all of the resiliency in the tire is afforded by the portion thereof adjacent the section 11V of `the reinforcing ,material It will be readily understood that a tire, constructed in accordance with my invention, will present all of the resiliency necessary for its effective operation on a truck or similarvehicle, and by reasonofthe provision of the side p0rtions 7 thereofas described, the danger of c rim'-cutsis practically eliminated,

The 'feature ofmy invention as just described hasvutilityin a ,tirefeither with or without the reinforcingvband 13, and I there- Vfore yWish to be understood as not intending tojlimit the invention, as to its broadest feature, to a constructioninwhich the rei nforcing member 13 is employed.. VThe band, 13, however, serves 4to perform a useful function, inasmuch as it serves, in the event of impact against the tire, to relieve theinner reinforcement of the stressl produced-.by the blow and which otherwise would bey taken practically wholly by the innercreinforcement,"'and thisis`importantinasmuch as the innerlportion vofthe ltire should be maintained in unimpaired and unstrained condition to prevent blow-outs, In other words, whena blowis struck against the periphery of the tire the greater part of the blow is taken by the band V13 and .distributed circiunferentially about the tire, instead of causing all ofthe stress to bevtaken by the reinforcement Q Furthermore, bythe provision of thev coperating sections l13 and 9 of reinforcement, duev tothe fact that the relative resistances to stress, each ofthesel sections is caused toresist less than the full stress and therefore the amount of air-pressure required to be carried in the tire, as

compared with the ordinaryform ofpneu- Y matic tire, is proportionately less, and thus the fabric of the tire is to this extent relieved of stress. y v Y' 1;-

,V Another advantage lies in the lfact that where the band 13 is employed the tire porftion 11 of the inner reinforcement may-,be

made relatively light for a given load, as compared withthe amount of reinforcement Y required at this `point 'when the band 13 is eliminated, and thusa high degree ofresilil ency maybe afordedtothe tire at the por-v Y tion 11. The inner reinforcement, however,

may be provided in 'such amount as is calculated to sustain the load to `which thetire is to be subjected, and the lprovision of the band 13in such case would serve 4to produce,

' among other advantafres that of reservinO` D b 7 b the inner reinforcement against impairment. It Will also be noted that by the employment of the band'lB the tire is rendered much more resistantto punctures than in the case of the ordinary pneumatic tire.

While I have illustrated and described a particular construction of tire in which my invention is embodied, I do not Wish to be understood as intending to limitit thereto, as the same may be variously modified and altered, Without departing from the spirit ofv my invention, it being my intention to claim my invention as fully and completely as the prior state of the art will permit.

lhat I claim as new land desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. A pneumatic tire comprising a casing containing Va comparatively narrow vertically elongated annular channel, reinforcing material in the walls of the casing extending circumferentially thereof and surrounding said channel, the said reinforcement Ybeing of relatively greater thickness adjacent the sides of the vchannel and -of diminishing thickness adjacent the tread end thereof, and a traction surface on said casing of a Width not less than the Width of said channel.

2. A pneumatic tire comprising a casing containing a comparatively narrow vertically elongated annular channel, the body of the casing at the sides of said channel being of relatively greater thickness than that portion of the same adjacent the tread end of said channel, reinforcing 4material in the Walls of the casing extending circumferentially thereof and surrounding said channel, the said reinforcement beingof relatively greater thickness adjacent the sides of the channel and of vdiminishing thickness adjacent the tread end thereof, and a traction surface on said casing of aY width not less than the Width of said channel.

3. A pneumatic tire comprising a casing Vcontaining a comparatively narrow vertiadjacent that portion of said first reinforcement surrounding the tread end of said channel and comprising a plurality of layers with certain layers thereof having their free edges turned at an angle tothe others to form annular ring portions inclosing the edges of the other layers of such reinforcement, and a traction surface on said casing of a width not less than the Width of said channel.

GEORGE HOFMANN. 

